MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) -- Evraz Group, a leading mining and metallurgical company in Russia, will increase the share of its stocks circulating on the London Stock Exchange from 14% to 25%, a senior executive said Friday.
"The company has announced that its strategic objective is to increase the share of stocks circulating on the London Stock Exchange to 25%. We confirm this," said Pavel Tatyanin, senior vice president and CFO.
Evraz Group comprises three of Russia's leading steelmakers and a number of mining and coal producing assets. The company controls over 20% of the world's primary production of vanadium, an element used to produce alloys.
Talking about Evraz's investment program, Tatyanin said $435 million would be invested in production this year with the bulk of investment, up to 80%, going on modernization and reconstruction of the company's metallurgical enterprises. He added that $125 million would be spent on environmental programs in the next five years.
He also said Evraz Group would announce the dividends it would pay for 2005 on June 26, 2006, based on the company's policy that 25% of its net profits go toward.
Evraz Group earlier posted its 2005 net profits calculated according to Russian accounting standards at $905.2 million, down 23.3% year on year, and its gross profits were 9.7% up on 2004, at $6.5 billion.
